For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available. To learn more about Apple Product Security, see the Apple Product Security website.
Dec 16, 2020 must listen medical podcast wonderful perspective and personal stories for everyone in medicine, especially trainees and young attendings. Great variety of guests and especially wonderful host dr aronowitz who had an inspirational mentor to so many physicians throughout the years. Thank you for sharing with all of us! OS X Mountain Lionが、Mac App Storeからダウンロード可能になりました。DockのMac App Storeアイコンをクリックし、Mountain Lionを購入したら、画面に表示される指示に従ってインストールを実行してください。Mountain LionはMacをさらに進化させるだけでなく、Mac、iPad、iPhone、iPod touchの連係も一段と優れた. Show Bicycle Touring Pro, Ep My Frightening Encounter With A Mountain Lion - Feb 25, 2020 In the summer of 2003, Darren Alff (then age 19) spent two months cycling up the Eastern Coast of the United States on his bicycle – starting in Raleigh, North Carolina and ending in Portland, Maine. The license to Mountain Lion transfers with the computer when it is sold. The agent should have told you that no Apple ID is needed to download another copy of the installer since the system prompts you to send the serial number for verification. Now, you don't get a license to the Mountan Lion upgrade to install on other computers.
For information about the Apple Product Security PGP Key, see How to use the Apple Product Security PGP Key.
Where possible, CVE IDs are used to reference the vulnerabilities for further information.
To learn about other Security Updates, see Apple Security Updates.
OS X Yosemite v10.10.2 and Security Update 2015-001
AFP Server
Available for: OS X Mavericks v10.9.5
Impact: A remote attacker may be able to determine all the network addresses of the system
Description: The AFP file server supported a command which returned all the network addresses of the system. This issue was addressed by removing the addresses from the result.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4426 : Craig Young of Tripwire VERT
bash
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Multiple vulnerabilities in bash, including one that may allow local attackers to execute arbitrary code
Description: Multiple vulnerabilities existed in bash. These issues were addressed by updating bash to patch level 57.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-6277
CVE-2014-7186
CVE-2014-7187
Bluetooth
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: An integer signedness error existed in IOBluetoothFamily which allowed manipulation of kernel memory. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking. This issue does not affect OS X Yosemite systems.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4497
Bluetooth
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: An error existed in the Bluetooth driver that allowed a malicious application to control the size of a write to kernel memory. The issue was addressed through additional input validation.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8836 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
Bluetooth
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: Multiple security issues existed in the Bluetooth driver, allowing a malicious application to execute arbitrary code with system privilege. The issues were addressed through additional input validation.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8837 : Roberto Paleari and Aristide Fattori of Emaze Networks
CFNetwork Cache
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Website cache may not be fully cleared after leaving private browsing
Description: A privacy issue existed where browsing data could remain in the cache after leaving private browsing. This issue was addressed through a change in caching behavior.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4460
CoreGraphics
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Opening a maliciously crafted PDF file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: An integer overflow existed in the handling of PDF files. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4481 : Felipe Andres Manzano of the Binamuse VRT, via the iSIGHT Partners GVP Program
CPU Software
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1, for: MacBook Pro Retina, MacBook Air (Mid 2013 and later), iMac (Late 2013 and later), Mac Pro (Late 2013)
Impact: A malicious Thunderbolt device may be able to affect firmware flashing
Description: Thunderbolt devices could modify the host firmware if connected during an EFI update. This issue was addressed by not loading option ROMs during updates.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4498 : Trammell Hudson of Two Sigma Investments
CommerceKit Framework
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: An attacker with access to a system may be able to recover Apple ID credentials
Description: An issue existed in the handling of App Store logs. The App Store process could log Apple ID credentials in the log when additional logging was enabled. This issue was addressed by disallowing logging of credentials.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4499 : Sten Petersen
CoreGraphics
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Some third-party applications with non-secure text entry and mouse events may log those events
Description: Due to the combination of an uninitialized variable and an application's custom allocator, non-secure text entry and mouse events may have been logged. This issue was addressed by ensuring that logging is off by default. This issue did not affect systems prior to OS X Yosemite.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-1595 : Steven Michaud of Mozilla working with Kent Howard
CoreGraphics
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5
Impact: Opening a maliciously crafted PDF file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: A memory corruption issue existed in the handling of PDF files. The issue was addressed through improved bounds checking. This issue does not affect OS X Yosemite systems.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8816 : Mike Myers, of Digital Operatives LLC
CoreSymbolication
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: Multiple type confusion issues existed in coresymbolicationd's handling of XPC messages. These issues were addressed through improved type checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8817 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
FontParser
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted .dfont file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: A memory corruption issue existed in the handling of .dfont files. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4484 : Gaurav Baruah working with HP's Zero Day Initiative
FontParser
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Opening a maliciously crafted PDF file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: A buffer overflow existed in the handling of font files. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4483 : Apple
Foundation
Available for: OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Viewing a maliciously crafted XML file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: A buffer overflow existed in the XML parser. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4485 : Apple
Intel Graphics Driver
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Multiple vulnerabilities in Intel graphics driver
Description: Multiple vulnerabilities existed in the Intel graphics driver, the most serious of which may have led to arbitrary code execution with system privileges. This update addresses the issues through additional bounds checks.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8819 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
CVE-2014-8820 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
CVE-2014-8821 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
IOAcceleratorFamily
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: A null pointer dereference existed in IOAcceleratorFamily's handling of certain IOService userclient types. This issue was addressed through improved validation of IOAcceleratorFamily contexts.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4486 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
IOHIDFamily
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: A buffer overflow existed in IOHIDFamily. This issue was addressed with improved bounds checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4487 : TaiG Jailbreak Team
IOHIDFamily
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: A validation issue existed in IOHIDFamily's handling of resource queue metadata. This issue was addressed through improved validation of metadata.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4488 : Apple
IOHIDFamily
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: A null pointer dereference existed in IOHIDFamily's handling of event queues. This issue was addressed through improved validation of IOHIDFamily event queue initialization.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4489 : @beist
IOHIDFamily
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Executing a malicious application may result in arbitrary code execution within the kernel
Description: A bounds checking issue existed in a user client vended by the IOHIDFamily driver which allowed a malicious application to overwrite arbitrary portions of the kernel address space. The issue is addressed by removing the vulnerable user client method.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8822 : Vitaliy Toropov working with HP's Zero Day Initiative
IOKit
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: An integer overflow existed in the handling of IOKit functions. This issue was addressed through improved validation of IOKit API arguments.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4389 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
IOUSBFamily
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A privileged application may be able to read arbitrary data from kernel memory
Description: A memory access issue existed in the handling of IOUSB controller user client functions. This issue was addressed through improved argument validation.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8823 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
Kerberos
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: The Kerberos libgssapi library returned a context token with a dangling pointer. This issue was addressed by improving state management.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-5352
Kernel
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: Specifying a custom cache mode allowed writing to kernel read-only shared memory segments. This issue was addressed by not granting write permissions as a side-effect of some custom cache modes.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4495 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
Kernel
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: A validation issue existed in the handling of certain metadata fields of IODataQueue objects. This issue was addressed through improved validation of metadata.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8824 : @PanguTeam
Kernel
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A local attacker can spoof directory service responses to the kernel, elevate privileges, or gain kernel execution
Description: Issues existed in identitysvc validation of the directory service resolving process, flag handling, and error handling. This issue was addressed through improved validation.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8825 : Alex Radocea of CrowdStrike
Kernel
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A local user may be able to determine kernel memory layout
Description: Multiple uninitialized memory issues existed in the network statistics interface, which led to the disclosure of kernel memory content. This issue was addressed through additional memory initialization.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4371 : Fermin J. Serna of the Google Security Team
CVE-2014-4419 : Fermin J. Serna of the Google Security Team
CVE-2014-4420 : Fermin J. Serna of the Google Security Team
CVE-2014-4421 : Fermin J. Serna of the Google Security Team
Kernel
Available for: OS X Mavericks v10.9.5
Impact: A person with a privileged network position may cause a denial of service
Description: A race condition issue existed in the handling of IPv6 packets. This issue was addressed through improved lock state checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2011-2391
Kernel
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Maliciously crafted or compromised applications may be able to determine addresses in the kernel
Description: An information disclosure issue existed in the handling of APIs related to kernel extensions. Responses containing an OSBundleMachOHeaders key may have included kernel addresses, which may aid in bypassing address space layout randomization protection. This issue was addressed by unsliding the addresses before returning them.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4491 : @PanguTeam, Stefan Esser
Kernel
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
Description: A validation issue existed in the handling of certain metadata fields of IOSharedDataQueue objects. This issue was addressed through relocation of the metadata.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4461 : @PanguTeam
LaunchServices
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious JAR file may bypass Gatekeeper checks
Description: An issue existed in the handling of application launches which allowed certain malicious JAR files to bypass Gatekeeper checks. This issue was addressed through improved handling of file type metadata.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8826 : Hernan Ochoa of Amplia Security
libnetcore
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious, sandboxed app can compromise the networkd daemon
Description: Multiple type confusion issues existed in networkd's handling of interprocess communication. By sending networkd a maliciously formatted message, it may have been possible to execute arbitrary code as the networkd process. The issue is addressed through additional type checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-4492 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
LoginWindow
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A Mac may not lock immediately upon wake
Description: An issue existed in the rendering of the lock screen. This issue was address through improved screen rendering while locked.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8827 : Xavier Bertels of Mono, and multiple OS X seed testers
lukemftp
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Using the command line ftp tool to fetch files from a malicious http server may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A command injection issue existed in the handling of HTTP redirects. This issue was addressed through improved validation of special characters.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8517
ntpd
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Using the ntp daemon with cryptographic authentication enabled may lead to information leaks
Description: Multiple input validation issues existed in ntpd. These issues were addressed through improved data validation.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-9297
Mountain Lion Apple Id Sign In
OpenSSL
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Multiple vulnerabilities in OpenSSL 0.9.8za, including one that may allow an attacker to downgrade connections to use weaker cipher-suites in applications using the library
Description: Multiple vulnerabilities existed in OpenSSL 0.9.8za. These issues were addressed by updating OpenSSL to version 0.9.8zc.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-3566
CVE-2014-3567
CVE-2014-3568
Sandbox
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5
Impact: A sandboxed process may be able to circumvent sandbox restrictions
Description: A design issue existed in the caching of sandbox profiles which allowed sandboxed applications to gain write access to the cache. This issue was addressed by restricting write access to paths containing a 'com.apple.sandbox' segment. This issue does not affect OS X Yosemite v10.10 or later.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8828 : Apple
SceneKit
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5
Impact: A malicious application could execute arbitrary code leading to compromise of user information
Description: Multiple out of bounds write issues existed in SceneKit. These issues were addressed through improved bounds checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8829 : Jose Duart of the Google Security Team
SceneKit
Available for: OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Viewing a maliciously crafted Collada file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: A heap buffer overflow existed in SceneKit's handling of Collada files. Viewing a maliciously crafted Collada file may have led to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. This issue was addressed through improved validation of accessor elements.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8830 : Jose Duart of Google Security Team
Security
Available for: OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A downloaded application signed with a revoked Developer ID certificate may pass Gatekeeper checks
Description: An issue existed with how cached application certificate information was evaluated. This issue was addressed with cache logic improvements.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8838 : Apple
security_taskgate
Available for: OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: An app may access keychain items belonging to other apps
Description: An access control issue existed in the Keychain. Applications signed with self-signed or Developer ID certificates could access keychain items whose access control lists were based on keychain groups. This issue was addressed by validating the signing identity when granting access to keychain groups.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8831 : Apple
Spotlight
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: The sender of an email could determine the IP address of the recipient
Description: Spotlight did not check the status of Mail's 'Load remote content in messages' setting. This issue was addressed by improving configuration checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8839 : John Whitehead of The New York Times, Frode Moe of LastFriday.no
Spotlight
Available for: OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Spotlight may save unexpected information to an external hard drive Green apple animated.
Description: An issue existed in Spotlight where memory contents may have been written to external hard drives when indexing. This issue was addressed with better memory management.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8832 : F-Secure
SpotlightIndex
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Spotlight may display results for files not belonging to the user
Description: A deserialization issue existed in Spotlight's handling of permission caches. A user performing a Spotlight query may have been shown search results referencing files for which they don't have sufficient privileges to read. This issue was addressed with improved bounds checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8833 : David J Peacock, Independent Technology Consultant
sysmond
Available for: OS X Mavericks v10.9.5, OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with root privileges
Description: A type confusion vulnerability existed in sysmond that allowed a local application to escalate privileges. The issue was addressed with improved type checking.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8835 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
UserAccountUpdater
Available for: OS X Yosemite v10.10 and v10.10.1
Impact: Printing-related preference files may contain sensitive information about PDF documents
Description: OS X Yosemite v10.10 addressed an issue in the handling of password-protected PDF files created from the Print dialog where passwords may have been included in printing preference files. This update removes such extraneous information that may have been present in printing preference files.
CVE-ID
CVE-2014-8834 : Apple
Note: OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 includes the security content of Safari 8.0.3.
So, you've decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac's performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we'll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.
A list of all Mac OS X versions
We'll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it's good to know the basic macOS timeline.
| Cheetah 10.0 | Puma 10.1 | Jaguar 10.2 |
| Panther 10.3 | Tiger 10.4 | Leopard 10.5 |
| Snow Leopard 10.6 | Lion 10.7 | Mountain Lion 10.8 |
| Mavericks 10.9 | Yosemite 10.10 | El Capitan 10.11 |
| Sierra 10.12 | High Sierra 10.13 | Mojave 10.14 |
| Catalina 10.15 |
STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation
Given your Mac isn't new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have 'fuel' to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.
Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:
- Uninstall large unused apps
- Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
- Locate the biggest files on your computer:
Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren't comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic 'room cleaners'. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it's most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.
Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)
Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)
Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)
STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download
Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That's why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.
How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store
If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you'll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn't always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:
- Click the App Store icon.
- Click Purchases in the top menu.
- Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
- Click Download.
This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.
Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer
If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.
Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.
Mountain Lion Apple Id App
Purchase an older version of Mac operating system
You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.
Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8
The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.
How to get macOS El Capitan download
If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it's possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:
1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.
'I can't download an old version of Mac OS X'
If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don't expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.
But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to download the installation file if you have an access to a Mac (or virtual machine) running that operating system. For example, to get an installer for Lion, you may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, once again, set up a virtual machine running Lion. Then you will need to prepare an external drive to download the installation file using OS X Utilities.
After you've completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.
STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive
The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.
- Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
- Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
- Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
- Select external drive as a source.
- Enter your Apple ID.
Now the OS should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is complete, your Mac will prompt you to do a restart, but at this point, you should completely shut it down. Now that the installation file is 'captured' onto your external drive, you can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.
- Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
- Connect the external drive.
- Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.
Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.
How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions
If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.13, it is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. You can do it either with Time Machine or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra
Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina
Before you do it, the best advice is to back your Mac up so your most important files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from old system junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for free here).
Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version
If none of the options to get older OS X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should have image installations going back to OS Leopard and earlier. You can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this article has helped you to download an old version of Mac OS X. Below are a few more links you may find interesting.
These might also interest you:
